This case is also related to the following copending applications, all filed on Oct. 16, 1995: REMOTE CONTROL INTERFACE, by B. R. Banerjee, S. C. Gladwin, A. Maskatia and A. Soucy, Ser. No. 08/543,700 now abandoned; RADIO FLASH UPDATE, by D. Bi, H. Hsiung and J. Wilson, Ser. No. 08/543,463 U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,327; MOUSE EMULATION WITH PASSIVE PEN, by D. Bi, G. Cohen, M. Cortopassi, J. George, S. C. Gladwin, H. Hsiung, P. Lim, J. Parham, A. Soucy, D. Voegeli and J. Wilson, Ser. No. 08/543,786 now abandoned in favor of Ser. No. 08/957,398 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,262,719; RESUME ON PEN CONTACT, by M. Cortopassi, S. C. Gladwin and D. Voegeli, Ser. No. 08/543,510 U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,558; SCREEN SAVER DISABLER, by D. Bi, S. C. Gladwin and J. Wilson, Ser. No. 08/543,698 pending; IPX DRIVER FOR MULTIPLE LAN ADAPTERS, by D. Bi, Ser. No. 08/553,808 U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,344; DISASTER RECOVERY JUMPER, by M. Cortopassi, J. George, J. Parham and D. Voegeli, Ser. No. 08/543,423 U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,806; RC TIME CONSTANT, by M. Cortopassi, Ser. No. 08/543,697 U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,082; DOUBLE PEN UP EVENT, by D. Bi and J. George, Ser. No. 08/543,787 U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,875; REMOTE OCCLUSION REGION, by J. Wilson, Ser. No. 08/543,701 U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,533; BROADCAST SEARCH FOR AVAILABLE HOST, by D. Bi, S. C. Gladwin and J. Wilson, Ser. No. 08/543,599 U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,688; HOST/REMOTE CONTROL MODE, by M. Cortopassi, J. George, S. C. Gladwin, H. Hsiung, P. Lim, J. Parham, D. Voegeli and J. Wilson, Ser. No. 08/551,936 U.S. Pat. No. 6,137,473; PASSWORD SWITCH TO OVERRIDE REMOTE CONTROL, by D. Bi, S. C. Gladwin and J. Wilson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,106; AUTOMATIC RECONNECT ON REQUIRED SIGNAL, by S. C. Gladwin and J. Wilson, Ser. No. 08/543,425 U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,117; and PORTABLE TABLET, by G. Cohen, S. C. Gladwin, P. Lim, J. Smith, A. Soucy, K. Swen, G. Wong, K. Wood and G. Wu, U.S. Design Pat. No. 385,857; REMOTE KEYBOARD MACROS ACTIVATED BY HOT ICONS, by S. C. Gladwin, J. Wilson, J. Wilson, Ser. No. 08/543,788 U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,034.
This case is also related to the following cases, all filed on Jan. 15, 1997: MULTIPLE WIRELESS INTERFACES TO A SINGLE SERVER, by S. C. Gladwin, A. Soucy and J. Wilson, Ser. No. 08/783,708; WIRELESS ENUMERATION OF AVAILABLE SERVERS, by S. C. Gladwin, D. Bi, A. Gopalan, and J. Wilson, Ser. No. 08/784,275; DYNAMIC SERVER ALLOCATION FOR LOAD BALANCING WIRELESS INTERFACE PROCESSING, by D. Bi, Ser. No. 08/784,276; DATA COMPRESSION LOADER, by D. Boals and J. Wilson, Ser. No. 08/784,211 U.S. Pat. No. 6,108,727; MULTI-USER RADIO FLASH ROM UPDATE, by D. Bi and J. Wilson, Ser. No. 08/783,080 U.S. Pat. No. 6,279,153; AUDIO COMPRESSION IN A WIRELESS INTERFACE DEVICE, by S. C. Gladwin, D. Bi and D. Voegeli, Ser. No. 08/784,141; MULTI-USER ON-SCREEN KEYBOARD, by D. Bi, Ser. No. 08/784,243; LOCAL HANDWRITING RECOGNITION IN A WIRELESS INTERFACE TABLET, by S. C. Gladwin, D. Bi, D. Boals and J. Wilson, Ser. No. 08/784,034; INK TRAILS ON A WIRELESS REMOTE INTERFACE TABLET, by S. C. Gladwin, D. Bi, D. Boals, J. George, S. Merkle and J. Wilson, Ser. No. 08/784,688, and MODE SWITCHING FOR PEN-BASED COMPUTER SYSTEMS, by D. Bi, Ser. No. 08/784,212.
This application includes, pursuant to 37 C.F.R. 1.77(c)(2) and 37 C.F.R. 1.96(b), a microfiche appendix consisting of 4 sheets of microfiche containing 328 frames of an exemplary program listing of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system which enables a plurality of wireless interface devices to be interfaced with a server connected in either a wireless or wired LAN. On power-up, each wireless interface device broadcasts for available servers and displays a list of available servers for connection on a dialog box to enable the user to select the particular server for connection.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wireless LAN systems are known in the art. Such systems enable various desktop and/or portable personal computers to be connected in a local area network (LAN) in order to share resources. Such wireless LAN systems obviate the need to provide direct wire connection between the various desktop and/or portable personal computers connected to the LAN. Such personal computers are normally equipped with a wireless LAN card and a radio interface which typically includes a spread spectrum type radio to reduce interference. In known wireless LAN systems, each of the personal computers to be connected to the network have a preassigned node address. Thus, with such LAN systems, the node address of the personal computers to be connected are known before any communication is established. In such systems, unless the node address is known beforehand, no communications can be established.
It is an object of the present invention to solve various problems in the prior art.
It is yet another object of the present invention to enable a system which includes a plurality of wireless interface devices to interface with a server configured in either a wired or wireless LAN.
Briefly, the present invention relates to a system which includes a plurality of wireless interface devices, adapted to be interfaced with a server, connected in either a wireless or wired LAN. Prior to an interface being established, the wireless interface device broadcasts for available servers which, upon acknowledgment, are displayed in a dialog box on the display of the wireless interface device. The user selects an available server from the dialog box for connection to the wireless interface device.